petrie



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

` J. PETEIE,J1-., 8v J. FIELDEN.

MACHINE FOR DRYING WOO'L.

Patented Mar. 16

N PETERS, Plmvmlwgnpher. waslungmn, D. C.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. PETRIE, Jr., 81; J. EIELDEN.

MACHINE FOR DRYING WOOL..

Patented Mar. 16, 1886.

lFllllllllllllllllllll llllllllllllll .gee l .w @EN n ml.. N. e @j E, C .d E @L H -...F m @TLN www ik w M ...H .um m m m? W. .om Nm w. m Wu msi mu M.

Nv PETERS. Phommlwgmphnr. whingwn. D4 C.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3. J. PETRIB, Jr., 8v J. PIELDEN.

MACHINE FOR DRYING WOOL.

No. 337,863. Patented Mar. 16, 1886.

Z7 M. 16 nk] -0 fwWI www WW N. PETERS. Plmw'Lnhngmphcr. wnshmgton, D. c.

NiTen STATES JOHN PETRIE, JR., AND JOHN FIELDEN, OF ROCHDALE, COUNTY OF LANCASTER, ENGLAND.

SPEGIE'IGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 337,863, dated March 16, 1886.

Application tiled November 13, 1885. Serial No. 182,676. (N o model.) Patented in England December 20, 1878, No, 5,227.

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOHN PETRIE, Jr., and JOHN FIELDEN, both subjects of the Queen of Great Britain, residing in Rochdale, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Drying Vool or other Analogous Materials; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form part of this specification.

Our invention relates to machinery or apparatus for drying Wool or other fibrous material; and it consists in the peculiar mechanical construction by which any fibrous material is advanced to or from, or conveyed through, machines employed for drying the same, but without matting or teasing the fibers composing such material then in process. For this purpose we use a series of parallel bars, which are caused to rise and fall through openings formed in a plate or table upon which the material rests, and at the same time to move forward and backward. By the former of such movements the material is conveyed, as desired.

The gist of our invention embodied in this speciication is contained in English Patent No. 5,227, and issued to us jointly the 20th day of December, A. D. 1878.

In the present instance it consists in improvements in the peculiar arrangement and adaptation of certain of the operative parts, which effect the rise, fall, and travel ol' the series of bars which convey the material, whereby greater efficiency is procured, and the machine, as a whole, is decidedly improved.

The drawings accompanying this specification represent in Figure l a side elevation, Fig. 2 a vertical transverse section, and Fig. 3 an end elevation, of a machine embodying our invention. Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal section, while Fig. 5 is an enlarged transverse section showing some of the bars raised and otherslowered in position. Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation of a cam-gear and its bell-lever.

In the above drawings the machine as an entirety is represented at A and covered with a shell, B, which closes the chamber formed thereby to external atmospheric influences, and through which is continuously forced, by means of a blower or fan, a current of warm or heated air. In this chamber is disposed the wool or other iibrous material upon a series of tables, one above the other, the material being constantly traveling to the end of each table, where it is dropped 0n the next lower table, and after traversing thelength of this is again dropped to the next one, and so on until it emerges in aproperly-dried condition. The interior of this apartment or chamber composing the feeding or conveying apparatus, as the case may be, is constructed with a series of fixed bars or supports, a a, extending across the apparatus. Upon these bars are secured, by means of suitable bolts, b b, a series of plain surfaces or fixed bars, c c, which constitute as a body stationary tables C C C, upon which the material normally rests. These bars c c, however, are set at a certain distance apart, in order to leave spaces for the reception and travel of a series of conveyer-bars, d d, which, as will hereinafter be shown, have two motions.

The drying apparatus, in the present instance for economy of space and heat, is arranged beneath the conveying apparatus, and is provided with a series of pipes and a fan or blower, D. In case, however, such a plan is not convenient, the drying apparatus may be disposed to one side thereof. The feed-pipe E leads to the upper table, C, upon which is delivered, by aid of the air-blast, the material to be conveyed through the machine and dried therein, whence it is advanced and passes or drops through the space which exists at the end of each table upon the table below, and thence it passes along from one table to another until properly dried, when it is delivered upon the endless traveling belt or apron l?.

Since the conveyer-bars d d in each table C O must rise and fall simultaneously in order to effect proper forward movement of the material through the apparatus, We have constructed traveling carriages G G.

Secured to the frame of the machine are studs e e e e', loosely mounted upon which are IOO links f f f ff', connected to reciprocating bars or rods g g g' g', forming a frame. At right angles to these rods or bars we have disposed other cross-bars', h h h h', to which are securely fastened the series of parallel bars d d, the whole forming the carriages G G', which rest upon and are guidedin right-line movement by flanged anti-friction rollers i i 't",secnred to one end of the links ffff', before mentioned. Furthermore, the cross-bars h h' are T-irons extending across the apparatus and support the series of bars l d, to which vthe latter are fastened.

Having now described the construction and arrangement of the traveling carriage containing the bars dd, (which are the conveyers) we will now proceed to describe the mechanism by which said conveycr-bars and the carriage to which they are attached are caused to rise through the spaces between the surfaces c c in a vertical or nearly vertical direction, raising the material resting thereon, and then to travel forward, whereby the said material is conveyed in the required direction.

At one end of the apparatus We have arranged a series of spur-gears, H H' H2, meshing with intermediary but similar gears, I I I2, vertically disposed and actuated (see Fig. 3) by a train of spur gears and pinions upon the opposite side of the machine. Thus the fast and loose pulleys are shown at J J', respectively, as driven by some prime motor, and are mounted upon the shaftJ2, upon which is a pinion, J3, meshing with a gear, J4, disposed on a short shaft or stud, which is further provided with a pinion, J 5, the latter actuating the gear K, while said gear K is mounted on the shaft K', extending across the machine. To the opposite end of this shaft K'is attached the spur-gear H2, through which motion is transmitted to all the other gears of the train. The shafts 7c 7c', to which are secured the gears H H', likewise extend transversely of the machine, and are provided with disks L L', to which are secured crank-pins ZZ. Crank-rods m m' extend from said crank-pins to suitable parts upon the traveling carriage, uniting the whole, and thus by the rotation of the spurgears H H', disks L L', reciprocating rightline movement of the conveyer-bars and their carriages G G', Src., is produced. Now, when the conveyer-bars are to be actively employed, they must be lifted above the level of the plain surfaces or bars c c of the fixed tables C G', and must so remain during such forward movement of the traveling conveying-carriage with its barsd d; but when the carriage begins its reverse movement said bars d d must be caused to drop below the plain. surfaces or fixed bars c c, in order to be carried back in an inactive position to the startingpoint, when they are again lifted to advance forward another charge of material; hence, means must be adopted in orderto accomplish the rise and fall of the bars d d at proper intervals of time to correspond with the forward traveling carriage; but since the conveyingbars are an integral part of the traveling carriage we find it necessary to lift the carriage itself', and to accomplish this have arranged operative mechanism, as follows: As before premised, we have pivoted linksfff'f' upon studs e e e e', such studs being secured to the frame of the machine, and hence act as supports for the traveling carriages and as centers upon which to pivot during their vertical rise and fall. From the links f f' extend short bars or arms, to which are pivotcd the rods g g g' g', the extremities of such rods adjacent to the spur-gears H H' being connected 'by bell-levers M M', actuated by slottedcam- 'grooves n 11,',s`uch grooves being cut in the sides of said gears. Now, these bell-leversare centrally pivoted ato o' to s'ome fixed part of the machine-frame, and while one arm, p, moves in the cam-groove, the other, p', lis pivotall-y secured to the end of the rods g g' adjacent thereto; hence, during kthe rotary movement of the gears H H', and consequent right-line reciprocations of the carriage, the cam-slots n n' are likewise rotating, and when the concentric part has reached the end of the arm p the latter is depressed, thrusting the connecting-rods g g' endwise and tilting the links ff', which latter lift the entire carriages G G' with their conveyer-bars, the said carriages being permitted endwise travel upon the antifrictiou rollers t' t' t" i', by which they are guided in right line motion. Conversely, when the eccentric portion of said cani-slots reaches the same point with respect to the arm p, the latter is free to rise, whence opposite end-thrust is permitted, the rods g g' and the links are tipped the reverse way, permitting the carriages to drop, when the bars are brought into aninactive position below the level of the plain surfaces ccof the fixed tables.

In the drawings, we have represented the number of tables in the machine as five; hence the upper table has to be balanced by a weight secured to a bar attachedto one end of the links f, before mentioned.'

In the same machine we have reduced the expense in constructing the machine, by operating two tables by means of one cam.

It will be observed that lsuch traveling carriage is provided with crank-rods to effect proper reciprocations, but the rise and fall of such carriages G G2 is produced by a single cam-slot, n', bell-lever M', through the reciprocating rod g and link f', which operates by aid of the adjustable rod g' and link r to effect vertical movement of the carriage G2. rlhus the traveling carriages are arranged in pairs and balanced by the weight of each other. In the arrangement of these conveyers their active operation is simultaneous, and since the material advances on table C in the direction of arrow 1, the rise of thecarriage G and travel forward must occur in the same direction. On the other hand, on table C'the movement of the material is just the reverse; hence active orreverse inactive movement of the it will Abe seen that the positiony of the crank-` ICO rod m',actuating the carriage G, is diametrically disposed on its crank-disk with respect to the similar crank-disk operating carriage G.

The operation of this apparatus is as follows: The current of hot airproceeding from the fan in the direction as indicated, the material is delivered upon the feed-apron when it enters the machine, and is at once conveyed by the hot-air blast to the upper fixed table, C,whence it travels from end to end of the tables nutil it finally emerges at the delivery perfectly dried. Assuming the tables to be covered with material in process of drying, the operation of advancing it along through the apparatus is as follows: At the commencement of an active stroke the traveling carriages G G, with their conveyer-bars d d, are lifted by the action ofthe linksff,secured tothe connecting-rods g g g g', the latter are given endwise movement by means of the bell-levers M M', actuated by the canrslots a n', this upward rise or lift of the carriage being induced by the rotary motion of the gears H H', containing said cam-slots. The conveyer-bars,bcing lifted, now stand above the level of the stationary bars c c, forming the tables C C when the carriages are advanced forward by means of the crank-rods mm', attached to and actuated by the continuous rotary movements of the spurgears H H I I, and carry with them the material. Vhen the end of the stroke has been reached, the cam-slots have been brought into such position as to release the heretofore confined ends of thcbell-levers M M and permit the lowering of the raised ends of the links ff', upon which the carriages G G rest, thereby allowing the latter to drop and bring the conveyer-bars below the level of the stationary bars. In this lowered position the carriages are returned by their crank-rods to a position in readiness to be raised forafresh active stroke. From this description it will be perceived that the result of this action is to lift the material, advance it forward, and then deposit it in a fresh position upon the bars composing the stationary table, and from the operation of the instrumentalities employed it will be understood that there is not the slightest tendency to mat or tease the material being conveyed thereon.

l. In combination with the driving-gear, the

cam-slotted gear H, the bell-crank lever M, 0perated thereby, the carriage G, the links f, attached to said carriage and to the frame or casing, the rods g, connecting said lever to said carriage, and the fixed table C, the bars c of which are arranged alternately with respect to the bars of said carriage, the said grooved gear-lever, links, and rods giving t0 said carriage a rising and falling motion, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with a series of fixed tables each composed of a set of parallel bars, and a series of movable carriages each coinposed of a set of parallel bars arranged alternately with respect to the bars of the corresponding fixed tables, the mechanism for giving reciprocating endwise motion to said carriages, consisting ot' a train of gear-wheels and the crank, disks, and connecting-rods operated thcrcby, substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with the fixed wool-sup porting tables, the carriages consisting of bars arranged alternately with respect to the bars of the corresponding tables, the mechanism 'for giving said carriages rising and falling motion, consisting of cam-grooved disks, bellcrank levers operated thereby, rods connecting said levers to said carriages respectively, and links attached to said carriages and the frame or casing ofthe machine, and the mechanism for giving said carriages endwiscniotion, consisting of crank, disks, rods, and actuating-gears, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we aifix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN PETRIE, JR. JOHN FIELDEN.

Vfitncsses:

HERBERT Bam-IAM, ARTHUR SHEPHERD. 

